Existing electronic commerce applications allow users to make purchases of various types of information-related products over computer networks such as the Internet. For example, a user can typically purchase digital music, e.g., “singles,” compilations such as compact disks (CDs), etc. over the Internet by accessing a corresponding web site, providing the necessary payment information, e.g., a valid credit card number, and downloading the music from the site. A well-known conventional format for downloadable audio information of this type is the MPEG-1 Level 3 Digital Audio Standard, also referred to as MP3. In such applications, the music may be transmitted to the user in an at least partially-encrypted format, so as to prevent unauthorized distribution and use. An authorized user is then subsequently provided with a decryption “key” which allows the music to be decrypted and used. Similar techniques may be used to purchase and download other types of audio information over the Internet, e.g., live broadcasts, interviews, talking books, etc.
A number of other techniques have been developed which allow users to purchase music that corresponds to a particular song currently or previously played on a radio station. For example, a system known as StarCD, from ConneXus Corporation, simultaneously monitors multiple radio broadcasts and uses pattern recognition software to identify the particular songs that are being played by each of the stations. A user hearing a particular song of interest in a radio broadcast can subsequently enter a command “*CD” on the keypad of a mobile telephone of a participating mobile carrier. The user is then prompted by the system for the frequency of the station and the time at which the song of interest was broadcast. The StarCD system then determines a CD which contains the song, identifies it to the caller via a voice prompt, and allows the user to purchase the CD over the telephone.
Another such technique, developed by Get Media of San Jose, Calif., provides Internet software which includes a Java applet that delivers playlist data to users via a radio station web site. The software allows users to obtain from the web site information about a song they are hearing broadcast by a given radio station, such as title, corresponding CD, performer information, etc., and to purchase the CD. This technique may also be implemented using a designated toll-free telephone number, such that if a user is not near a computer when hearing the song, the same information and ordering feature can be obtained by calling the designated number.
It is also known to provide music purchase kiosks in public places such as restaurants, coffee shops, etc. from which a user can purchase music for download directly to a portable MP3 player carried by the user. However, such an approach assumes a bidirectional link to a music server, which generally does not exist in a conventional radio broadcast system.
Digital audio broadcasting (DAB) systems are capable of delivering music in a format suitable for recording in a receiver memory, such that the music can be replayed on user demand. For example, proposed systems for providing DAB in the analog FM radio band are expected to provide delivery of near CD-quality audio. A problem associated with the recording of music delivered via a DAB system is that there is no mechanism for detecting that the music has been recorded by a user, and therefore the artist, distributer, record company, etc. may not be properly compensated. Another problem is that even if a user is able to record and play back the music delivered via the DAB system, by the time the user realizes that a particular song or other piece of music is of particular interest, part of the music has already been streamed to the user and is therefore unavailable for storage.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that a need exists for improved techniques for permitting users to purchase digital music or other information corresponding to a broadcast of a DAB system or other type of communication system.